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Transit of Venus across the sun; a translation of the celebrated discourse thereupon (1859)

Author: Horrocks, Jeremiah, 1617?-1641
Publisher: London, Macintosh
Year: 1859
Language: English
Call number: b1162132
Digitizing sponsor: Wellesley College Library
Book contributor: Wellesley College Library
Collection: Wellesley_College_Library; blc; americana

Full catalog record: MARCXML

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Reviewer: murray baker - - May 11, 2012
Subject: Review of Horrox portion only.
This is extraordinary! The 1859 translation is sufficiently modern English as to be readily understandable. The work communicates not only the science, but the heart, soul and emotions of Horrox 400 years ago when he made his unprecedented observation. Horrox references "Alhazen the Arabian". This is a scientific reference to "Book of Optics", AD 1011~1021, the very birth of science itself. Horrox speaks glowingly of Kepler, in poetry, but also corrects Kepler's errors. Kepler died in 1630 and is therefore almost a contemporary of Horrox, rather than historical as we would consider him. Additional poetry is scathingly critical of Ptolemy, which is reasonable scientifically, but also of Americans, which is really a cultural insight into Horrox.

Science, and people, are extraordinarily fortunate to have available this remarkable document, which spans science, natural philosophy, humanity, and history.

Caveat: Additional information exists in the 1662 Johannes Hevelius Latin publication, notes from Hevelius, and a Table of Contents, which were not translated in 1859. Here (as of 11 May 2012):
http://www.univie.ac.at/hwastro/books/horrocks1639.pdf

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